David Swensen & a Target Date Fund Walk Into a Bar

Morningstar’s John Rekenthaler shared a wild statistic about Yale’s endowment fund in a piece published yesterday: The fund’s reputation, however, owes to its earlier accomplishments. In the 10 years from mid-2008 through mid-2018 (the latter being the date of the fund’s most recent report), Yale gained an annualized 7.4%. During that same time period, the…

When Does the Stock Market Go Up?

A reader asks: I read something this past week that, while I trust the source, it seems hard to comprehend, let alone believe… that virtually all of the nearly 30% gain in the S&P 500 since ‘17 has come outside of normal US market trading hours. More specifically, that since January ‘17 just 2% of…

Only a Good Idea in Hindsight

People were skeptical of Google when it IPO’d. Amazon’s own employees didn’t think Prime would be a success. Good ideas are often only known in hindsight.

Animal Spirits: The Influencer Bubble

This week’s Animal Spirits with Michael & Ben is sponsored by YCharts: Mention Animal Spirits and receive 20% off your subscription price when you initially sign up for the service. We discuss: The pogo stick indicator. The poor performance of alternative funds. Tariff impacts on Chipotle. Is the bond market really that smart? Can yields be used to…